Deck the Halls

This year Eric and Aeden put the tree together and did the majority of decorating. They did a great job!

An important element that must not be forgotten, the key to let Santa in!

Bits and Pieces

Sometimes it seems that you just have to grab bits and pieces of your child's life because it all goes by so fast.

November 12, 2008: Aeden drew this snowman on the kitchen whiteboard as a surprise for us.

November 16, 2008: Aeden being goofy at Panera Bread when he got bored. We were having dinner with Eric A.

November 24, 2008: Wreath decorating at scouts. Aeden missed last year because he was sick and all he could say over and over was "This is so much fun!".

My Santa Baby

Dear Santa 2008

Dear Santa,
I want this for Christmas. $1000 dollers or Poke'mon cards or Mario cards, or "New Super Mario Brothers" or Mario stuff animals or Poke'mon stuff animals or "New Super Mario Brothers" 2 or 3 or "Mario Party 8" or gold or Mario metles {medals} or real stars., red, orange, yellow, green, blue and Grand Stars., red, orange, yellow green and blue or Poke'mon books or Mario books.

From Aeden G....

Note: Aeden is wearing a shirt that he decorated just for this visit. Apparently the reindeer (brown object) is holding Santa's hat and the words "Sandta is great!"* is also written on the shirt as well as some other illustrations.

*Have to love phonetic spelling!

Paper and Pencil? No thanks

Aeden can multiply 15 x 12 in his head and get the right answer. Can you?






15 x 12 = 180

Kissing

Aeden has a friend that runs from him every time he tries to play with her. This bothers him and so I asked him if he wanted me to talk to her mom. Last year they played chase a lot so I figured that it was just something along those lines.


But no...

As it turns out she runs from him because he tells her he wants to kiss her.

After a lovely conversation about how that is not second grade appropriate and that he should apologize, I thought it was over with.

I was so wrong.

In fact that was only part of it, not only does he want to kiss her, but he has told her that he is going to marry her. :P She isn't quite ready to make that decision though...

So then we had to have a conversation about how you don't have to worry about who you are going to marry until you graduate from college.

I thought we were done, but again I was so very wrong.

(In the car on the way home from bookclub)

Aeden: So when can I kiss?

Me: When you are in college.

Aeden: Definitely when I am married, right?

Me: Yes, when you are married.

Aeden: What about hugging?

Me: I think high school, yes high school sounds like a good time to hug.

Aeden: I think probably 4th grade.

Billy Bob Joe comes for the weekend

Aeden's class has a 'pet' frog (stuffed!) named Billy Bob Joe. We had the privilege of having Billy Bob Joe visit for the weekend mid-November. Aeden and Billy Bob Joe did a LOT of activities. Then Aeden wrote about them in BBJ's journal.

The weekend started off with a visit to Sta*bucks:

Billy Bob Joe was happy to join us at Aeden's pack meeting and even helped Aeden carry the food for the food drive.

Pack meetings are great for socializing!

On Saturday Aeden and Billy Bob Joe played Wii bowling. Aeden won but I believe BBJ got a couple of good strikes in. Sadly BBJ's sister didn't fare as well (it doesn't help that she is apparently invisible).

After Wii bowling Dad took both boys to Aeden's basketball practice. No pictures were taken of the event unfortunately. I hear that Billy Bob Joe did a lot of cheering for Aeden while trying to play with Dad's DS.

Once everyone had gotten their exercise it was off to the toy store with Billy Bob Joe, and the last picture taken of him and Aeden together.

They played more Wii and read books too. Quite the weekend!

He shoots, he misses, he tries again...

It is true what they say, you do learn something new everyday.

At Aeden's hoop camp I learned that the basketball court is MUCH bigger than the soccer field he played on. My zoom lens can't quite get there without a ton of noise and much blurring!

I also learned that hoop camp (where the boys learn the basics of basketball) isn't as exciting to some (read everyone but me) and I am the only freak person to try to photograph the experience.

Another lesson learned, never believe the child when he says he has enough water with him. He doesn't, bring extra.

Thankfully Aeden is also learning things at hoop camp.

Like how to hold the ball...

bend his knees, and shoot...

as well as patience and waiting his turn.

Voting

Aeden's school held a mock presidential vote today. I asked Aeden who he voted for and he said "The guy with the hair and the teeth." Hmmm, that left me a bit confused so we went online and found pictures of the candidates and it turns out that Aeden voted for Obama.

_______________________________________________

I was lucky enough to be a mystery guest in Aeden's classroom today. In honor of the presidential election I read Duck for President by Doreen Cronin and had the kids do their own little vote.

They voted on the best cookie, chocolate chip or snickerdoodle. Each student was given one of each to taste before casting their vote.

Unfortunately we didn't have time to go in depth and see if we could persuade people to one side or the other.

However, at the end of the voting it was tied 11 votes Chocolate chip, 11 votes Snickerdoodle. Since they are lucky enough to have two teachers and only one is there on Mondays, the students are going to color voting ribbons and see if they can persuade their other teacher to their side of the vote. Samples were left for the other teacher.

Aeden's first vote was for both of them. Since that isn't allowed, he had to recast and he voted for Snickerdoodles! I must say, that would be my vote too. :)

an hour gained, an hour lost

If Aeden had his way in life it would be just a couple of minutes from the end of the school day.

That is because in Aeden's world we have the current time (i.e. what the clocks say) and real time (the time it would be if not for daylight savings).

The time changed yesterday, and for the second time this year Eric and I got to listen to Aeden's tirade about how it is really *insert Aeden's idea of real time here* and the clocks are all wrong.

We finally just told him that when he is president, perhaps he can just get rid of daylight savings.

Only five more months before we get to hear his views on the topic again...

ODD

Aeden is currently snuggled up in our bed trying to convince me that he doesn't need to go grocery shopping with me or help with household chores. I jokingly mentioned to Eric that Aeden might have Oppositional Defiance Disorder, or ODD. I looked up the symptoms and read it to both boys.

A few minutes passed and Eric was goofing off with Aeden when I hear

"Daddy you are ODD, occasional different daddy."


Very clever.

To continue I hear this:

Eric: Aeden you are OTMT.
Aeden: What is OTMT?
Eric: Occasional Tickle Monster Target *starts tickling Aeden*
Aeden: *laughing* I fell for that one!

Tooth #7

I almost forgot to mention this and it is a major milestone in my eyes. Aeden lost tooth number 7 yesterday (Halloween).

The way he tells the story, he woke up in the morning and it was suddenly wiggly. Then on the way to daddy's work he was bothering it with his tongue and it just popped out.

What makes this a milestone is the fact that this was the first time he hasn't freaked out about it. Amazing!

The tooth fairy is supposed to visit tonight.

Sorry no pictures of the gaping hole *shudder*.

Dem Bones

*Disclaimer: We didn't unclutter/do the windows before doing the video. This was the second try since the first time I held the camera rotated 180 degrees. *sigh*

This is one song from the Skeleton Show Aeden's class held on Halloween. Pictures from the event will be added to this post once I upload them.